Short weekend that felt long - in a good way!

I'm in a rush to post today - lots of work to do. This is ripped from an email to my sister-in-law - just a quick synopsis of the fun family weekend we had, Dan Vi and me:

I worked late on Friday night, and we watched an episode of Weeds before bed. Still, this weekend felt really long. I think the longer days just feel good.

Saturday we went to the hardware store. Dan bought some stuff for George's chainsaw while Vi and I explored. There are a LOT of potties at Maine Hardware, so that took up most of our time. She pointed at each one and exclaimed, "Potty!" They have a popcorn popper there, so she had some popcorn to carry around and munch on, which is always a good thing. We went to Whole Foods to buy eggs and chicken - super-sale - and Vi fell asleep on the way home for an early nap. In the afternoon we went to my parents' house so Dan could help George cut up a HUGE branch that had fallen in their yard this winter. It was the size of a tree, and it fell so hard that the branches on the downward side were literally injected into the earth. Very cool. Vi helped out by carrying twigs and pinecones and pointing at deer poop and shouting "POOP!!!" We blew some bubbles and did some Running, too. A fun afternoon. We made yummy pizza for dinner and watched another episode of Weeds before bed. (We borrowed the Season 1 DVD from a friend.)

Sunday we got up and were very disappointed in the weather. What were we going to do with an energetic kiddo in the cold rain? I had a nice long chat with my mom while Dan and Vi watched some Beaker the Muppet on YouTube, and my mom suggested the pet store. We immediately got into the car and drove to the pet store in Mill Creek. They were having puppy play hour - dog-owners bring their puppies in to play with a trainer. So, we saw puppies, fish, birds, lizards, a cat who was visiting from the Animal Refuge League, mice, a bunny, and frogs. It was almost too much fun. In the afternoon we went for a short play date at a friend's house and let the kids run wild.

We actually managed to get some cleaning and organizing in, too. It was a productive and fun weekend!!

New Baby! (Not mine)

My friends, who have been waiting for the moment to meet their daughter in China for almost 4 years, have finally been united with her this week! They are keeping us all up to date with pictures and stories through a private blog. Let me just say that their little Natalie is COMPLETELY GORGEOUS. She's 11 months old, clearly very bright and sweet, and seems to be transitioning well. They're still in China, dealing with what seems to be crazy paperwork, bureaucracy and formalities, and doing it all with a language barrier. I am totally impressed with their patience, strength, compassion, and dedication. Natalie is one lucky little critter.

I'm looking forward to a Vi and Natalie play date!!

Hurray!

Dan passed his permit test! Now he has to finish the class and driving time, and pass a driving test. His CDL license is so close!

Then what? Oh yeah...getting a job...let's all keep our fingers crossed/say a prayer/send good thoughts that Dan will find some work soon!

Look Your Part!

I've been spending time online lately, re-connecting with old friends. Facebook and LinkedIn have been helpful resources for me, both personally and professionally.

My latest discovery is a business run by my friend, Kim, from high school. She owns "Look Your Part: Makeup Artistry for Print, Film, and Special Occasions." Check out her amazing portfolio at:

http://www.lookyourpart.com/portfolio.html

Mea Culpa

I'm correcting my post title from yesterday, which was supposed to be a quote from Ten Things I Hate About You, one of my favorite movies. (Seriously. It's incredibly funny, and a take on The Taming of the Shrew. Check it out.)

Chastity: I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?

Bianca: I think you can in Europe.

For more information on this fine flick, check out http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0147800/

I know you can be OVERwhelmed, but can you just be Whelmed?

This is a completely indulgent, self-serving, venting post, so please feel free to just skip it! I have WAY too much stuff on my plate right now! A sampling:

Home stuff:

• Dan has bronchitis! Yuck. He's been coughing a lot lately, and when he falls asleep, he MOANS. Remember in When Harry Met Sally, the split-screen phone scene? When he practices moaning? Like that. JUST like that.
• We still haven't received any money from Dan's unemployment claim.
• Dan has been unable to find a temporary, part-time job to hold us over while he's in school.
• My grandmother in Ohio is still not well. She seems to have, well, "cracked" a few weeks ago. She's rambling unintelligibly, and seems completely confused and paranoid. The doctors did a CAT scan, and determined that she has Alzheimer's. I have never heard of sudden-onset Alzheimer's, so I'm not sure how they concluded that. She's been FINE up until her recent hospitalization. It's all very strange, stressful, and sad. My paternal grandmother had Alzheimer's, so I know what early-onset dementia looks like. It's a very emotional subject for me, so I'm feeling extra-senstive about all of this.

Work-related stuff:

• I am planning/preparing a QuickBooks seminar at work, for tomorrow night. We're having some technical difficulties...to say the least.
• I have a project of re-creating and validating information from 2004 - 2008 for a client. Yikes!
• A huge, eye-killing, monitor-staring, spreadsheet-reviewing project, trying to identify discrepancies in an inventory system.

Somedays, the pressure and stress becomes too great and drowns me.

This is one of those days.

As promised...

Pictures taken by Dan...

http://picasaweb.google.com/linzwalsh/March162009?feat=directlink

Pictures taken by Noelle....

http://picasaweb.google.com/linzwalsh/BostonMarch2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCJjV57jT_azSXg&feat=directlink

Enjoy!

Photos to come...

...probably tonight or tomorrow!

Oh, internet, we had SUCH a great weekend! The whole thing. Great. Weekend.

Friday night we had pizza with Dan's family - we sat on the floor and ate like animals some deliciously greasy pepperoni pizza. So good.

Saturday we ran around like crazy people packing everything in the house for a 24-hour stint in Boston. The car was full. Completely full. When I post the pictures, I'll tell more about the fun we had, but for now, to entertain and to amaze, here is the list of what we packed:

• Pack-n-play (portable crib)
• Vi's sleep accessories, including her Jensen Quilt, her fleecy blanket, Foxy, Purple Bear, Jam-jams, and bubbas.
• Booster seat/portable high chair
• Baby backpack - not a toy for Vi, but a method of carrying her
• 2 sleeping bags, 2 pillows
• Diapers, wipes, lotions, detangler
• Change of clothes for all 3 of us
• "Ditty bag" as Dan calls it - toothbrush, toothpaste, lotion, deodorant, etc.
• Car bag - Books, toys, snacks in case Vi didn't sleep
• Food bag - never-fail meals for Vi in case she was being...a selective eater.
• Baby monitor
• Phone charger
• GPS
• iPod
• Diaper bag

That's about it. We definitely brought too many clothing options, too many diapers, and too many books. Whenever I see how much we over-pack, I'm reminded of two quotes. First, from Doc Winslow, the music director at my high school: Bring twice as much money and half as many clothes. Second, from my step-grandfather, Grandpa Gus: You're not going to darkest Africa! I'm not sure what exactly he meant, or what the origin of that one is...well, I'm pretty sure it's not a good origin...but the point was that we were going to BOSTON, not the desert. THEY HAVE GROCERY STORES AND LAUNDROMATS THERE. What could happen in 24 hours that can't be solved with 15 bucks?

Anyway, we loaded up the car and hit the road at nap-time. Vi fell right asleep and woke up on Route 1 by the Hilltop. It was a good trip down.

Details of the crazy-super-wonder fun we had to come...

11 Years!

Today marks the 11th anniversary of my first date with Dan. Wow - 11 years! I feel old...no, wait, I feel like we were SO young then! It's amazing to me that 11 years ago tomorrow I fell in love with the man who is now my sweet, dear, devoted husband. Sure, we drive each other crazy, but what can I say? I'm crazy about him. To celebrate, we had fillet o'fish last night. Yes, we did. It's either totally white-trash or totally John Edwards of us to do so. But man, it was a tasty, nasty sandwich.

We are heading to Boston tomorrow night to crash at my brother Tim's house. My sister and her clan will be up for the weekend, too. Sunday morning we'll all go to the Children's Museum. Vi will get to play with her cousins Ben & Lolly, see two uncles and two aunts, and see Willy the Bird. Vi LOVES Willy the Bird, and asks (demands) to see him (pictures of him or any other tropical bird) daily (morning, noon, and night). Here are some of my favorites:

Since Noelle will be there, rest assured there will be some new professional-quality Vi pics to come in the next month or so!

Have a happy weekend, everyone!

New words!

Vi is still surprising (and confusing) us with her language development. Every day there are new, distinct words that she just starts using. For instance:
Girl
Puppy
Paint
Playdough
Hello (Hai-looooo)
George (as in Curious OR the collie who lives in our neighborhood)
Cream of Wheat
Milk
Book
Wash
Sit (or as she says it, Sit, sit, sit, sit.)
Turtle

She is also requesting more specific activities - she does The Monkey while saying "Do, do, do" as a request for music and dancing. She says "ay-eee-ay-eee-ay" as a request for me to sing Old MacDonald. And she says "See? See? See?" when she wants to go look at something. Her "yes" is still "yessssh," and her Riley is still "baaa-neeee." She knows groups of people - if I mention Grammy, she nods and says "Papou?" and if I mention Dylan she nods and says "Ah-dee!" for Dylan's daddy, Adam. She is still randomly exclaiming "Noni!" and "Ky!" although I realized yesterday she may be saying Noodles and Climb rather than Noa and Kyle. Still, when I ask if she can say Adrianne (Noa's mom and Kyle's wife and my good friend, owner of www.turtlelovecommittee.com) she nods her head yes. Like, "Yes, I can say that three-syllable word, but I choose not to."

In other news:

Dan is in his third week of truck-driving school. He really likes it! He's driving with his instructor out on the open road...he's a STUDENT DRIVER all over again. IN A VERY LARGE TRUCK.

Grandma is not doing well. She had a stroke and a seizure in the last week. Her language and other occupational skills are depleted to a 5-year-old level. All systems are functioning, but she's not really there. My aunt is so sad to see her like this every day, and my mother is planning on heading back in a couple of weeks.

Tax season is almost over! I have one more year-end financial package to prepare by tomorrow, one that is finished and needs to be sent off, and another client on extension that we're doing a few special projects on before finalizing their reports.

I've made the assumption that my readers know where I work and what I do, but that may not be the case. I am on LinkedIn, and you can see my profile and the information about my firm at http://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsaywalsh. I provide bookkeeping services to businesses of all sizes, customized to meet your needs, using Peachtree, QuickBooks, and Microsoft Dynamics GP. Services include but are not limited to: bank account reconciliation, financial statement preparation, payables and receivables management, quarterly and annual financial reviews, sales and payroll tax filing. My specialties include Financial review, annotation and reconciliation of financial statements for tax preparation, payroll, sales tax, payables, receivables, monthly write-up, Peachtree support and training.

Right now I'm working on a QuickBooks seminar , inventory valuation, payroll and bill-payment, and marketing our firm to the Southern Maine area...among other things. I keep busy. I work here full-time, and I am fortunate to say that I really love my job. I have great co-workers, clients, and the firm has a mission I enjoy upholding.

And...

I'm accepting new clients. Leads are welcome!

That's all from me today. It's a sunny and blustery day here, my tulips, daffodils and crocuses have poked their little heads up out of the dirt, and the 21st is just around the corner. I'm dreaming of Spring...

Cabin Fever!

I think we've overcome our technical problems with the new camera! Here are some of the best pictures of Vi so far this year:


http://picasaweb.google.com/linzwalsh/CabinFever?feat=directlink

And some silly time for you:

Words fail me!

I'm not feeling so prolific this week; I apologize for the infrequent and not-so-entertaining posts.

Dan is in his second week of truck school at Pro Drive. He's enjoying it, still. Yesterday he had both his physical exam and his written permit test. He passed the former with no issue, and passed 2 of the 3 sections on the latter. He'll re-take it in a few days. Funny, it was the section about which he was the most confident that he didn't pass.

He also had his phone interview with the Department of Labor, so the unemployment claim process is finally moving forward. Hopefully we'll see some helpful checks in the mail soon.

Vi and Dan were both plagued with the most awful stomach virus I've ever...well, seen, smelled, heard, or micro-managed. I frantically texted my mother at one point, asking her to bring me some Lysol! She did, and now she's sick, too. We also seem to have infected three friends. We're awesome. They're both feeling better but not 100%.

My tax season is mostly over. I have a couple of clients who weren't able to get me their information on time, so they'll have to file an extension. Overall, though, it was great having full-time, free, flexible child care (read: stay-at-home Dad) during my busy season. A strange blessing in disguise.

We had a nasty storm on Sunday night which lasted into Monday afternoon, leaving about nine inches of snow on the ground (and on the car, the roof, the trees...). It's gorgeous. I'M READY FOR IT TO BE GONE. Spring can't come fast enough this year! I am longing for a warm, sunny day in our front yard, under the maple tree, taking in the wonderful, clean air. Even our neighbor commented that he can't wait to sit under our tree this year! Of course, both of our kids are mobile now, so it will be quite different than sitting with a stationary baby in the shade.

Some friends are planning a seedling-swap. I think the idea is that we'll all start our own seeds, then get together to swap our extras. That way we'll have enough cucumbers but not too many. In theory.

Vi has new words every day. The funniest one is Knut. You remember Knut? Sure you do... look here. My friend Kristin sends books for Vi at every gift-giving occasion, and a book about Knut was in this year's Christmas package. I had no idea that Vi liked it so much until the other day she approached me in the living room, hand extended, saying "Han, han, han, han, han." This was not a request for Han Solo, but for me to take her hand and go with her. As having a child reach out to hold your hand is THE MOST PRECIOUS THING IN THE WORLD, I gladly obliged. I was led to her bookshelf in her bedroom. She was not saying, "Noot, noot, noot, noot." She selected the Knut book quite deliberately and handed it to me continuing her noot-ing. No, I'm not planning on correcting her pronunciation just yet...it's too sweet to hear her say it the way she says it.

What else does she say? Still "all done" and "all gone." Also, Papou (Greek for Grandfather, it's my step-father's grandpa name) and Purple (for Purple Bear, you've seen the pictures) both come out like "Poo-poo," unfortunately. Ba-nee means either Bunny, Bottle, Ronnie (the penguin, her large stuffed animal), Running (a request to be "chased" by Ronnie), Willy (my brother Tim's bird), Banana, or some other 7th thing which remains unidentifiable in the most frustrating way. There's nothing quite as upsetting as having a tearful kid yelling "Ba-nee!!" over and over again and having no idea what she wants or needs. Any ideas?

She's all into learning names. Papou, as mentioned above, Gro-gro,Boo, Sassy/Cassy/Solasi - three dogs, all of which she calls "Csassy" - Noni, Ky, Coro, Dan, Mitts and Wy-eee. You know who you are.

She also says "goose." We call her a silly goose so often, that the nickname "Goose" has sort of stuck. Sometimes she is being silly and just cuts to the chase and starts saying "goose, goose, goose." Which is pretty silly in itself.

She's a good kid. She still gets us to laugh every day and gives the best, best, best hugs and kisses I never knew I deserved.

Photos!

We're having some technical difficulties with our new camera, but here are a few which Picasa graciously uploaded without issue: